The 12 things about the Prince and the Stray Dog
by cynickblue2
Summary: Pairing: ByakuyaRenji, some background IchigoRukia and some special appearances by 11th Division people. Manga  up till chapter 288 barely thereDisclaimer: not mine. can not be mine. will never be mine.


1) Byakuya always wondered if Renji's hair felt as fiery as it appeared. He was surprised to realize that the tresses were cool and silky especially when they were draped across his face. He was too preoccupied playing with Renji's hair to note the slight hitch in the other man's breathing.

2) Renji had missed the childhood days when he, Rukia and the rest of the gang would jump into muddy pools of water during the rainy season. Nowadays, he was contented lying at the corridor outside the bedroom, watching Byakuya practiced his sword movements in the rain.

3) Byakuya would give the always-sober Yumichika a polite nod whenever he swung by the dinky pub at the designated time to pick up his drunk fukutaichou during the boys' night out. With an internal sigh, he would proceed to cajole the sake bottle out of the struggling hands of his red-haired lover before carrying him home like a sack of potatoes. It was a good thing that the previous Lord and Lady of the Great and Noble Kuchiki House did not get to see their princely son showing such 'uncouth' manners; they would have expired on the spot.

4) Byakuya would look at Rukia and wondered if he would ever replace her position in Renji's heart. He told Renji that at a moment of weakness. Renji looked away and replied that at least he was not fighting with the memories of a woman long gone.

5) Renji discovered that somehow his expensive sunglasses collection had increased without him realizing it. He also noticed that the shop-keeper would give him a thumbs-up and a wide grin whenever he walked past the shop with his taichou. From then on, Renji took extra care not to wear any of his new sunglasses whenever he knew the orange-haired punk was coming back to Seireitei for a visit.

6) Byakuya had been a chronic insomnia sufferer. Ever since Renji moved into the Kuchiki House, he could not seem to find the energy to stay awake because Renji would insist on extra-curriculum activities in bed. Lots of it.

7) Who would have figured that Byakuya was a screamer and Renji a moaner of Olympic proportions? Rukia had given the both of them an ultimatum – either both of them keep it down or they sound-proofed the bedroom. She ended up using those ear-mufflers purchased from the Real World _every_ night.

8) Renji always indulged himself in marking the pale skin of his lover during love-marking which clothes normally could not cover. Ikkaku had expressed on various occasions his amusement at Renji's tendencies 'to piss and mark territory'. Renji thought that if this was the only way that he would get to keep his moon close to him, he would do it. Besides, the 6th division captain did not seem to mind.

9) Byakuya thought that hell had frozen over when the ill-mannered Kurosaki brat actually requested for an audience with him. He looked at the way his sister was pretending that she was not affected that her beau was cooling his heels at the entrance hall and remembering what Renji told him about the rescue mission when they were at Hueco Mundo, he was resigned to the fact that he would have to call Ichigo family. Perhaps hell _had_ frozen over.

10) There was an open secret among the seated officers in Gotei 13 – the stick-in-the-arse Byakuya had a soft spot for Yachiru. Whenever the 6th division captain thought he could get away with it, he would stuff the bouncing Yachiru with sweets. Renji would hide in a corner and looked at the unlikely pair, sometimes joined by Yumichika who usually drew the shorter stick to look for his missing fukutaichou.

11) Renji looked down at his fine clothes and back at the Kurosaki party sitting at opposite side of the marriage hall, he wondered for a hundredth time why was he assigned to the place where the Lady of the House was supposed to sit. And if that stupid baldie did not stop his snickering, Yachiru would get a new floor mat for the play-room.

12) At the sight of his sleeping love glowing softly under moonlight, Renji thought that it did not matter now whether or not he had not surpassed Byakuya Kuchiki in strength. Both of them were better and stronger together.


End file.
